Automobile-lock.



. I w m NHA 7N h m. wrm ,d A... l@ m Wm w Tw APPLICATION FILED IAN.I5I`I9I7.

F. R. HANCOCK 6L R. F.. HOFFMAN.

AUTOMOBILE LOCK strains PATENT OFFICE-.

, E mcgbcx gewann ir. norman-N; or mosiu, lwreeolrlsr.

" nu'rononinzsnocx;

Tell whvmmayicmefm# Y B6 it knownl that we, EgNKRf HANCOCK andFLHOFFMAN, citizens of the United States 'and'` residents of Kenosha, in

Nfthe county-of feniosha and' State ofWisconsin, have ,invented new anduseful Improvefollowin is' a-ffdsci'iiption, 'referencbeing had tout e:accompanying drawings,which are ja partof this s ecification.

`The invention re ateisi1:0,Vautoinobile locks. 'The invention is morearticularly de .si ed to provide *a lock or the steering w eel oftheautomobile toyprevent surreptitions/removal thereof by' providing meansfor locking the steering wheel in inoperative position iWe are awarethat steering wheel locks have" been devised which a polygonal 'opening'in the center of the steerin wheelv isaadapted .to be -secured to 'apolygo al-nut on projection on the 'steering post and that sai parts maybeidisengagedand the steen ing.y wheel inoved'with 4respect to thenut so`theta. locking ,fbolt'carried by the steering Iwheel may b'evlocked ina groove en ;the

sis

steering post whereby the steering wheel is 4feeltoturnwu on fthepostand thusrender the automobi e uncontrollable and conse- .30

I iientlyf inoperative, but we have found in evices of thiskind thatitisj easy to operate the car in spite of this' lock, owing to the'fact-that apolygonal nut on the steering ost is accessible-"whenthe`wheel is locke 1n .inoperative po 'tionybyusingan ordinary monkeywrenc lthe machine and it is therefore the obect of this v`inventionfjto" overcome the di above po inte.d nith by providin means foripreventingaccessfto the former y'V accessible i steering1 post liiiitEwhen thesteering wheel is culty The invention further consists inthe-sev 145' erali'featuresi hereinafter setforth 'and more particularlydescribed "by claims atjthe'com clusion' heredy j In the'drajvings:Figurel-s-,a plan view of tliede'vice,` parte of' the steering? wheelbein'gbnoken away ;f

2 sis afeectin `taken en -the line lplwiamipn' of Letten rennt.animationen .franken-Ns, '1917. serial im. 142,442.

' secu to engage this polygonal nut s and .thus operate the steeringYpost tocontrol -23 in sai hub. The lock 21' be'b V y- Q and 3, which isset linto ai vertical y-100 in the s Vider hub and 'selfsurednthereinby;means o a pin 25 in the'xspideeengaging with an annular groove26jiii-11151@'100k` p,

Patented Jan; stime.;

Before describing the-means: for:prevent y ing access to the upper nutonthe post we will describe the otlienparts of the device with which'saidimean's arecmbined.- In the drawing the numeral. etes' the spiderof a steering 4Wheel of'usu'afconstruction. This spider is rovidedwi-tlin verticallyfextending cyliri rical' ;bore -xl tendingthrougli part nf-the spider hub,'.a polygonal opening v7 adjoining 4the 'n v,per portionof the bore 6 and a cv lindrical ore 8 adjoining the opening 7,4 :t eopenings or boreso and 8 being co-axial. f

This spider' .at ,its bored' -hub portion is adapted to besecured to alocking member 9 which 'is secured to the steel-in post 10 by a keyedconnection-11. l The sliding movement of the `memberwith respect to thepost 10 is preventedby disposing said meinber `between thetubularsteeiin f sleeve 12, which fits in a recess 13 in" eiower'end ift 'l member] 9 and a, polygonaliiet :1,4 in three ed engagement the uppe'end' 15' of the steering post 10., Ihis member 9 has cylindrical'portions. 16 f and- 1 7`between which is an annu-lai'.y groove 1 8 andsaid member also has "a polygonal'por-L. tion 1 9' between which and theportion 17,4 is an annular groove 20.' 4The portiopsyl and' Al''ofthemember 9 slid'ably t,"

'y the bo`re"6 of the'hub of. the spider andzthe portion 19 undeiconditions heieinaiter-rde-l scribed is adapted to engage withIthefs'ides. .of the'polygonal openin ,Tof hub` or to be disengaged;erefrom.

To'secure the steering wheel eithei'fin erativ'e or inoperativepositionai-' loilf( setQinto a portion of the spiderhub'' die( ed' toactuate a suitable construction. butwe derr27, said cylin ergbeng held-mlocke pee when it aesiredtby tissent wthe '.automobile,- the' E wheelais -fmoved satha'the-poiygoaalaprtiqnllabr g It? 'ing post member 9registers with the polygonal opening 7 inthe spider hub of the wheel andunder these conditions the ykey 31 is inserted in the lock 2l and turnedso as to move the locking bolt 22. which is operatively connected to thelock 'cylinder 2T by a pin 32 on said cylinder movably mounted within aslot 33 in said-locking bolt, the turning of the key of .course cansinorthe turninl of the lock cylinder Q7 and the insertion o 'the key movingthe tumblers 2S out of lockin engagement with the recesses 29 and o thespider'hub. Under these conditions the locking boltl '22 is movedinwardly and projects into the annular groove 20 as shown in Fig. 2 andthe wheel is thus supported by and connected up to the meinber 9.so thatthe turning of the wheel lwill turn the steeringost 10 to which themember is connected. fow if it is desired to render the steering wheelinoperative the locking bolt 22 is moved out of the annular grooveQ() onthe operation of the lock and the wheel is then moved down with respectto the member 9 so that the hexagonal portion 19 of the member 9 isdisengged from the sides of the opening T at which time the locking bolt9-2 -is disposed adjacenttthe annular groove 18 and by turning the lockto locking position the bolt 22 moves into the annular groove 18 andthus prevents the locking en agement between the member 9 and the 'wieel' since the' portion 17l of the Vmembeiifvforms a stop for said boltand under these'conditions the wheel is only free to tur-11 on 'thesteering post.

The gas and spark levers'al and 35 and the quadrant member 36 are ofusual construction and mounted to the steering post above the nut 14,said parts being connected .to the parts which they7 controlbyr theusual tubes which p ass through the steering post '10.

- It 'will be noted from the construction thus far described that whenthe steering" Wheel is .locked in inoperative position the nut ,14 willbe exposed and it is therefore poible to operate or control thesteering.

post bythe use of an ordinary monkey Wrench'toengagepthe nut 14 andconseguently. the device thus far described is not Q01 proof. 4

4To prevent accessibility-to this nutl-l we have devised the followingmeans which are used in combination with the parts pre` f viouslydescribed.

This means consists of a tubular sleeve 3T slidably fitting within thebore 8 of the spider hub and projecting upwardly from t e normalposition of the spider 5 to a distance equal tothe thickness of the nut14. This sleeve is rovided with an inward] extending annu ar flangeportion 38^whic slidably engages an annular recess 39 at the'upper 4endof the member 9, said Bange beingl disposed between the shoulderedportion of the recess 39 and the-nut 1l. The sleeve 3T extendsdownwardly into the spider hub the length of the bore 8 and the lengthof this bore is such so that when the wheel is moved to its inoperativeposition, as previously described, said sleeve cannotbe moved out ofenga gement with the bore 8.

In connection with this sleeve, we prefer to use a cvlindrical cap 10which has a depending 'ange portion 11 in threaded engagement with theinner upper portion of said sleeve and said sleeve and ca are furthersecured together by means ot a pin -12 passinor through them. posedbetween the top of the nut 14 and the quadrant said ca J having anaperture 43 therein through which the housing 1 for the spark and gascontrols pass.

Thus the sleeve and cap form a means for completely inclosingthe nut andpreventing access the-reto so that it would be impossible to use awrench to turn-the steering post,y

The cap -10 is disl steering post without the use of some form of socketwrench which wrench however could not be. used because the leversor'contro 3l and 35 and the quadrant 3G would pr nt its use and if theselevers and quadrant were removedv the control rods would drop down andit would be practically impossible to replace tlie levers and thenadrant even if the nut could be turned y a special form of wrench intime to ermit surreptitious removal of the .automobile and consequentlythe sleeve itself would practically prevent the removal of theautomobile though the sleeve with the cap is the preferred constructionbecause 'in addition to completely inclosing the nut 14 it-excl'udesdust from the parts of the device.

A The. invention thus esem Jlies a steering wheel lock which is practicafool proof.

We are aware that the details of construction herein shown anddescribetlare capable of someA change andl modification and we-therefore wish it understood that such changes as come within the scopeofthe appended claims are within the spirit of our vinvention.

'hat we claim as our invention is:

1. The combination, with a steering post, of a lockin member securedthereto, a steering wheel aving its hub portion mounted on said lockingmember.' lockin means for securing said wheel to said lockmg member tocause said member to -turn with said wheel, and for securing saidwheel'in inoperative position on said locking member, a nut at 'theupper'endv of the post for securing said locking member thereto againstvertic'al movement, and freely revoluble' means for'preventin access tosaid nut.

2.4 The com ination, with a steering post,

p for yselcurinv removal an of a lockingimember secured thereto, asteer- Y ing wheel aving its hub 'portion mounted on said lockingmember, locking means for securing said `wheel in operative and inopferative position with respect to said lockingY member, a nut at theupper end of the ost said lockm member against freely revolu le meansfor preventin access to said nut.

3. T e `combination, with a steering post, of a locking member securedthereto,-4 a steering'wheel having its'hub portionumounted on saidlocking member, means` forV securing 'jsaid wheel in operativeandinoperative position with respect' t said locking member,

'a-'mit at thel upper `end of the post for securing saidlocking memberagainst removal,

and a` freely revolublesleeve surrounding said nut to prevent accessthereto.

4. The combination, with a steering post, of a. lookin member securedthereto, a steering'wheel aving its hub portion mounted on 4said lockingmember, means for securing member,

of a.. locking 4member non-rotatably secured thereto, a steering wheelhaving its hub portion mounted on said member, means for securing saidWheel in operative and inoperative position with respect tosaidl lockinga nut at' the upper end of the post for securing said locking member'agamst vertical movement, and a cylindrical hood freely revolublymounted on said locking member and inclosing said nutv to prevent accessthereto.

In testimony whereof vvey aiix our signav,

tures.

FRANK R. HANCOCK. RONALD F. HOFFMAN.

